The Browns are one of those teams that we probably don't know as much about as many others since they dwell outside the East and are somewhat of an unknown commodity.

Rumblings of discontent from the mistake-by-the-lake have been heard in Patriot Nation and curious as to what is going on out there, I have been surfing around trying to ferret out the truth in the matter.

What better source for inside dope than straight from the fans mouths and here are some of the nuggets I have uncovered.

OFFENSE

QB - The Brownies are embroiled in a full blown QB controversy and the stats for both Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb are virtually identical and would tend to indicate that they are both mediocre at best.

Recent injuries have troubled both and word is that Holcomb (by far the more dangerous of the two IMO) has had bleeding occuring in his broken right fibula. This would seem to indicate that Couch will get the nod since he is only suffering from a sprained ankle incurred during a sack last week vs. San Diego and a black eye sufferred during pregame warmups in a collision with Darnell Sanders.

Interesting that neither one of them appears on the official injury report - and we thought our brain trust was secretive.

There is a lot of criticism of Couch in Cleveland for both his propensity to zero in on a particular reciever (usually Kevin Johnson) and to throw between the tackles in the 5-10 yard area. He generally has enjoyed more success on the road as the Dawg pound is on his case heavily. He is also the kind of QB that our defense eats alive.

RB - Franchise back and BC's own William Green is listed as probable with a shoulder injury forcing him to wear a sling recently and after watching him for two years at BC and come on in the 2nd half of his rookie season last year, the guy is deserving of respect and will probably be the focal point of our defensive game plan.

The Browns tend to zone block for Green and often run him inside the tackles letting him decide which crack looks the widest and use what God gave him to break free. Their scheme tries to overload blockers to one side or the other to create holes so the chess match between Romeo and Bruce Ariens should prove to be an interesting one.

WR - The Browns really don't have a true #1 reciever in the typical sense but have 4 viable wideouts in KJ, Quincy Morgan, Andre Davis and Dennis Northcutt.

A spate of dropped balls has the home fans down on this bunch but it is a pretty deep unit and will put some heat on our D, particularly if Law doesn't start.

I also note that the Pats were reportedly hot-to-trot for Northcutt when he was drafted a few years back and he hasn't worked out thus far like the Brownies had hoped. He remains a speed merchant with shifty moves, but is slight of build and hasn't been able to cement a role as a reciever as yet. He is the kind of reciever that defenses love to blast.

OL - much criticized and injured this unit remains a huge question mark, but reportedly there has not been a sharp dropoff in talent as the backups have taken over.

Some believe this is because the original starters genuinely suck and the difference is not glaring, but they did not fare as poorly as feared last week.

The only name amongst them is rookie C Jeff Faine of Notre Dame who has done well, but currently is listed as questionable with a bad knee.

On the topic of draft picks the Browns have had little to no production from any of their other picks to this point, again pointing out how smart our guys are. :D

DEFENSE

Things improve for them on this side of the ball, and they are a young, fast, yet inconsistent squad who is capable of playing very well on occasion despite the pounding they took from a sorry San Diego Charger team.

Tomlinson ran wild on them last week, but we don't have an LT in our backfield. He apparently gained most of his yards by running to the side opposite from wherever DE Courtney Brown lined up.

DL - Brown is probably their best player lately and has started to make a name for himself in the league since being the #1 overall a few years back and battling back from injury as well as his own underachievement. The guy is a load no matter who he lines up against and both Light and Ashworth are key since he swaps sides. Look for Graham to line up on his side and assist in neutralizing him wherever he goes.

Another guy to watch is DT Gerard Warren who was much coveted throughout the league when he was picked before Richard Seymour in the 2001 draft. Much maligned for underachieving, Warren is playing a bit better lately and remains a threat since he is built like a tank and every time I see him it appears that he is moving people backwards. He should line up over our RG whether it be Woody or Andruzzi.

The other DL's such as Orpheus Roy and Kenard Lang are considered average players at best. Probably worse than average.

LB - Middle backer Andra Davis sure looks the part and there is a buzz that he is a guy to watch, but tackling problems have infected their D and at this point he is more of a potential guy than a Ray Lewis clone.

DB - Beats me. Corner Daylon McCutcheon is supposed to be a pretty solid guy and Safety Robert Griffith has been criticized for whiffing on many tackles. Call him Tebucky squared.

SPECIAL TEAMS

I dunno. Not that great from what I've been hearing and neither Andre Davis or Northcutt are getting much done at KR and PR respectively.

COACHING

- A lot of pressure on the Brownies brain trust and both HC Butch Davis and OC Bruce Ariens are feeling some heat for the inept performances of the whole team as the Browns have been getting beat in all 3 phases of the game. This looks to be a mismatch for us.

So what will happen?

The Browns tend to play pretty well on the road and have "covered" the spread in 10 or their last 12 games. Combine this with the fact that they are coming off an embarassing spanking, have a pretty good D, and we are still giddy with beating the Dolphins, then the word "trap" should immediately occur to you.

Having said that, I cannot for the life of me see the Pats losing this game at home. I'll split the difference and call a tight Pats win in a low scoring affair. Pats win 19-13.

pookie

10-24-2003, 10:13 AM

Good stuff Hawg. Thanks. This will be the first (and hopefully only) Pats game that I will miss this season. I have to leave for a pesky business trip (Las Vegas) on Sunday morning..... what a drag.... a Telecom User Conference in Vegas! :D

One thing that scares me about the Browns is that either Holcomb or Couch are capable of having a 300 yd / 3 TD day on any given day. This is not a game that the Pats defense can let get away from them or take lightly. They will be the key, as they have been in the last 3 games.

bideau

10-24-2003, 10:20 AM

Originally posted by pookie
Good stuff Hawg. Thanks. This will be the first (and hopefully only) Pats game that I will miss this season. I have to leave for a pesky business trip (Las Vegas) on Sunday morning..... what a drag.... a Telecom User Conference in Vegas! :D

Lucky Bastard :4321:

One thing that scares me about the Browns is that either Holcomb or Couch are capable of having a 300 yd / 3 TD day on any given day. This is not a game that the Pats defense can let get away from them or take lightly. They will be the key, as they have been in the last 3 games.

I've got to believe that the veteran leadership on this team will not allow any player to take this game lightly.

I don't think you have to worry too much about Couch throwing for 300 yards, he doesn't do that too often. Holcomb is more likely to do that, but he's not 100% healthy yet.

One of our biggest problems as you guys know is the health of our O-line. If they can protect the QB and open up holes for WG, it could be a good day for us, but that's a big if. When Willie rushes for 100, we're 5-0 (I believe). However, I know you guys haven't given up 100 yards to anyone yet this year. So it should be interesting. Unfortunately Willie is not 100% either.

We are very unpredictabe - none of us can get a read on them. The one thing I will say, is that we don't get blown out very often. We play up to the competition, but unfortunately we play down to the competition as well.